Tigress killing: Vet body issues notice to chief wildlife warden

here was no registered veterinary practitioner involved in charge of the operation for effective tranquillization, relocation and revival of tigress T-1.(AFP)

Nearly a week after the killing of T-1, or Avni, the alleged man-eater tigress in Maharashtra, the National Veterinary Doctors’ Association served a notice to the chief wildlife warden of the state on Tuesday for breaching the Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984.

The association said, according to the act, a veterinarian should have been present when Avni was allegedly tranquillised and subsequently killed. The association will approach the Central government with the notice. The association, based in Panchkula, Haryana, is a Central government-registered body and the apex organisation of the veterinary associations. “The wildlife authorities have to be taken to task with for such a massive violation,” said Dr Chirantan Kadian, president, National Veterinary Doctors’ Association. MUMBAI: The National Veterinary Doctors’ Association served a notice to the chief wildlife warden of Maharashtra on Tuesday for breaching the Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984, as there was no veterinarian present when T-1 tigress or Avni was allegedly tranquillised and subsequently killed. The association will approach the Central government with the notice.

The association, which is based in Panchkula, Haryana, is a Central government-registered body and the apex organisation of the veterinary associations. It said there was no registered veterinary practitioner involved in charge of the operation for effective tranquillization, relocation and revival of tigress T-1.

“Any drug administered to a schedule 1 animal has to be done by or under the supervision of an experienced and registered veterinarian. The cognisance of this issue should have been taken by the Maharashtra veterinary council but they ignored it,” said Dr Chirantan Kadian, president, National Veterinary Doctors’ Association.

“The wildlife authorities have to be taken to task with for such a massive violation,” he added.

On the night of November 2, tigress T1 was shot dead by a team of three forest staff members, Asghar Ali, son of independent sharpshooter Nawab Shafath Ali Khan hired by the forest department to either tranquillise or kill the animal, and a vehicle driver, near Borati village in Ralegaon taluka in Yavatmal. T1 is said to have killed 13 people since June 2016, which forced the forest department to initiate a hunt for the “problem tigress.”

Kadian added the act of administering schedule H or X drugs by the hunter was a violation of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985 and Drugs and Cosmetics Rule 1945.

“The tigress was reportedly shot from a distance of 8 to 10 metres, and it is unlikely that the shooter waited for anytime for the drug to work. The dosage of the medicine, reviving the animal using an antidote, consequences of overdose, dehydration, overexertion etc. cannot be decided by the hunter no matter how experienced he might be,” he said.

Animal welfare groups alleged that the poachers must be booked for the use of the narcotic drugs without authorisation.

“There is an outrage across the country on the irresponsible attitude and callousness of the authorities in brushing aside blatant inconsistencies and treating wildlife and their sacrosanct habitat with shabby disrespect for political gains,” said Gauri Maulekhi, trustee of Union minister Menaka Gandhi’s non-profit organisation, People for Animals.

Maulekhi also alleged the gun used by the hunter to kill T-1 was illegally used.

“T-1 was shot using a 300 Winchester Magnum rifle with a bullet diameter of 7.62m and weighting 11.5 grams. This calibre is not permitted to shoot tigers under the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) guidelines. Most likely the bullets will be replaced as the weapon has already been taken out of the state,” she said.